Thundersdawn 8 GateCrashers
by Chaos Eternus
Summary: The Tok'ra base is seized and the Tau'ri must launch a rescue, despite an obvious ambush.
1. Running, Hiding

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus   
_**

If you like this series check out thundersdawn. tcafanfic. net (without the spaces)  
please read and review  


**_1: Running, Hiding. _**

Anise came to stop, leaning against an old oak for support as she greedily gasped, straining to bring precious oxygen into her lungs, her face lined with sweat, her clothes soaked and dirty. Gasping, she heard the approaching Jaffa behind her, and with a groan of despair, she ran, her breath raggedy, her sides aching.

An hour later, Anise came to stop, her eyes streaming with tears of pain as he bit her lip, trying hard to stop the pain in her shoeless feet and the ache in her sides make her cry out. She was a scientist, not a field agent for heavens sake. She bit back a hysterical laugh, she had been around the Tau'ri too long, she was starting to pick up some of their expressions.

Groaning, she lifted herself from the heavy oak, and walked into the stream that flowed swiftly through this forest, blood from her feet staining the water red. She paused, listening carefully for a moment as she heard Jaffa slowly following the trail of blood in the distance. Groaning, she moved, swiftly walking through the water towards her destination. The water, she thought through a haze of pain, should stop then tracking me.

With a hysterical sigh of relief, she saw her destination ahead, and sped up, her spinning around as she glanced everywhere, looking for watching Jaffa. Not seeing any, she ducked through the waterfall, the raging falling waters forcing her too her knees as she dove behind its protective, concealing embrace.

Sobbing, she walked to the back of the small cave hidden behind the waterfall and slipped behind a small protrusion of rock, slipping sideways to fit through the small, narrow crevice.

Five minutes later she was in her hidey hole, a large cave she had found accidentally one day, and now used as an escape whenever she needed a few undisturbed minutes to think. None of the other Tok'ra even where it was, though at least two suspected it existed. Smiling slightly, she grabbed a plastic bucket, clearly labelled US ISSUE, and dived back through the narrow passage to the outer cave and the waterfall, her body screaming its pain all the way.

Swiftly, she filled the bucket from the waterfall and carefully carried it back to the cave, she had food stored here but not water, and she would need some on hand, just in case. Grabbing another bucket, she repeated this task five times, before grabbing a last bucket and using its supply of water, carefully sluiced the bloody footprints from the outer cave, carefully moving backwards, ensuring no footprint survived, and back through the narrow passage to her refuge.

With a gasp, she dropped her bucket as the last of the water was used, just as she entered the main cavern. She was finished, they were unlikely to find her here, even if the Jaffa could fit through that passage, which most couldn't, they wouldn't bother if they saw no reason to believe she was down here. She dropped, collapsing, the pain finally overcoming her. Whimpering, she fell asleep, exhausted beyond all reason.

****


	2. Rest and Scouting

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

Chapter 2: Rest and Scouting 

Wearily, Anise opened her eyes, her whole body screaming the adrenaline filled excesses of the last day. Groaning, her forced her abused muscle to move as she checked her body over carefully. The cut and bruises were gone, and her feet, her worst worry, were covered with raw new skin, where last night bone had been revealed, smacking painfully into the ground.

It would take her awhile to complete the healing process, weary as she still was, she would have to eat, then rest again.

With a groan, Anise jerked back awake again, uncertain what had woken her. She stiffened, then slowly silently slipped to the narrow crevice that led into her cave as the clomping sound of searching Jaffa hit her, from this side of the waterfall. She hoped that in the delirium of yesterday, or was it the day before? No matter, she just hoped she had successfully cleared away all the signs of her presence. Otherwise she was in trouble.

She ducked back as she heard a Jaffa approach the crevice, a light flashed down sweeping into the fringes of the cavern. She waited, knowing she had no other escape if the Jaffa decided to block her entrance up.

She breathed a slow sigh of relief as the Jaffa left the waterfall cave 15 minutes later, then moved deeper back into her hidey hole, dropping to the ground on a small cushion at the back of the cave. Quickly, she inspected her hosts body, she knew, she could feel that she was okay now, all the damage was repaired, but Freya had had enough of the abused state she was in yesterday and refused to believe unless she saw it through her own eyes. If it kept her host happy, so be it.

But tomorrow, once she could be certain the Jaffa were no longer searching in this area, she would have to leave her sanctuary, and go scouting.

Anise edged forward, her eyes resting on the small mirror she held out, pointing it just around the corner. She moved the mirror slowly carefully around, looking into every corner of the cave, nothing. She edged slightly further forward, the mirror now pointed at, and through the waterfall, nothing.

Slowly, carefully she moved forward, struggling to remember other details from the Tau'ri Escape and Evasion she had been forced to go on, wishing fervently she had paid more attention. The course had been designed with _exactly _this situation in mind, and she had refused to pay attention because… Freya acidly broke in at this point,

'Because it would never happen to you? And what were the _exact _ words of the instructor, oh yes, an attitude of 'it will never happen to me' could get you killed? And what exactly has happened to us now?'

Anise winched inwardly, Freya was very very rarely as acidic as that. It usually only happened when she did something that wasn't just insulting or stupid, but in Freya's opinion, it was something of monumental stupidity. Strangely enough, Anise knew she couldn't argue it wasn't deserved in this case.

'Leave it Freya, we have more important things to deal with'

Freya went silent, tacitly agreeing to hold this conversation for another time. Nodding, Anise slipped from behind the waterfall, quietly smiling as she realised the dirt and mud on her battered clothing made for excellent camouflage, and that the moccasins on her feet would not leave a distinctive trail for any but an experienced tracker to follow. She just wished she had left a slightly better pair of shoes in the cave last time she had visited.

Anise slipped through the forest, past streams and clearings as she headed for the Tok'ra base. She stopped suddenly, the hairs on the back of Freya's neck rising, prickling. She ducked, diving into a thick patch of undergrowth as a twig snapped close by.

She carefully quieted Freya's breathing as a group of Jaffa passed by her, garbed not in the heavy metal armour typical of the Jaffa, but a thick dark mottled green robe.

_Camouflage _Freya commented, as Anise tried to figure where she had seen such before. Anise grimaced, agreeing silently, it would make any scouting, or escape that much more difficult.

Anise cursed as she looked over the last entrance to the Tok'ra tunnels. Everywhere it was the same story, Jaffa posted on the entrances, and sensors buried in the ground, apparently tracking escape tunnels as the Tok'ra attempted to grow them. It was obvious Maktenos knew exactly where the tunnels were; it was also obvious he had no intention of entering. He was containing the Tok'ra, and Anise wished she knew why. She guessed she wouldn't like the answer. Finally, she turned and fled towards the StarGate. As much as she knew the Tau'ri didn't particularly like her, they were the Tok'ras only hope, and she would have to find some way to contact them.

****


	3. At The Gate

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

Chapter 3: At The Gate 

Groaning, Anise and Freya exchanged curse words at their aching feet as they reached the edge of the forest, behind the gate. The cursing at the feet stopped abruptly, and switched to cursing Jaffa as she contemplated the volume of Jaffa milling around the gate, plus the assembled bulks of two gun towers, complete except for the guns themselves. How was she going to get past all these?

Smiling, the Jaffa slipped back deeper into the woods, gesturing his comrades to watch the Tok'ra as he headed away, to a safe distance to use the new communicator he had been given, without the possibly of being overheard by the Tok'ra agent.

"My Lord, we have a Tok'ra at the rear of the Gate"

He nodded as the swift reply came to grab her, and then paused, what if? It was risky to mention it, but…

"My Lord, if the gate defenders were to be pulled away, leaving the gate unguarded, would not this Tok'ra do exactly what you planned for?"

He flicked the communicator, a small rounded device, its perfect mirrored surface marred only by a set of five buttons on the base, and waited, his guts clenching with anxiety.

He sighed lightly, as the reply came back. Ba'al would have killed him for such impudence, but Maktenos often rewarded good suggestions from the Jaffa, this idea he obviously liked.

Stunned, Anise could not believe her ears as the Jaffa charged away from the gate, her fellow Tok'ra had broken out and had put up enough resistance to force the Gate defenders to be pulled away to assist in forcing the Tok'ra back into the tunnels. They would not defeat the Jaffa of course, the Jaffa were too many and too well supported from orbit, but it gave her a golden opportunity.

But where to go? Unbidden, a snippet of a conversation she had overheard rose to her mind. An address of a world were the Tau'ri were sending a team, quickly she flipped through some mental calculations, converting the Tau'ri designations to a gate address, then she sprinted, both Anise and Freya giving it their all as they charged for the gate, punching in the address of a dead, uninhabited world.

Glancing around fearfully, Anise dived through the gate.

"My Lord, she has passed through the gate"

"I saw it My Lord, the address was for a dead world, I believe she just means to stay there long enough to dial out again"

"Yes My Lord"

"Thank you, My Lord"

Gasping, Anise dived through the gate again, arriving rapidly in the middle of a strip of green, plentiful farmland, with the interesting addition of four P-90's pointing at her head. Now _that _wasn't standard farm issue.

"Anise" the weapons lowered, "what are you doing here?"

She looked at the team, and smiled slightly. At least this one had met her before, he knew she was genuine Tok'ra.

"Ferreti, the Tok'ra base has been seized by Maktenos, most of the Tok'ra have been captured"

"Oh _shit!" _Ferreti cursed, diving swiftly for the DHD.

****


	4. Effleunt and Rotary Impacting Devices

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

Chapter 4: Effluent and Rotary Impacting Devices 

"Incoming Wormhole!" the tech sergeant shouted over the blaring of the automatic sirens, red lights flashing throughout the buried complex as the gate shook and rumbled, its inner ring spinning around as an off-world gate connected.

With a kawhoosh of energy, the gate opened, the event horizon spilling into the room before dropping back into the confines of the Naquadah ring of the gate.

"Close the Iris" Hammond ordered, running swiftly down the clanging metal steps into the room"

"Yes, Sir" the tech paused as the information scrolling on his monitor shifted, a new message popping up onto its display, "Receiving GDO sir… its Ferreti and SG-2"

"Open the iris, inform Doctor Fraiser we have a team reporting back early"

"Yes, sir"

Hammond looked back towards the gate as armed soldiers poured into the gate room, cocking their weapons at the gate. Hammond sighed in relief as one after another the six man team dropped safely and unharmed into the room, then he cursed loudly, as Colonel Ferreti broke through the event horizon, cradling a battered, blood streaked Anise, her clothes in tatters.

"Medical to the gate room!" he heard Ferreti shout as he dashed out of the control room, down to the gate room.

"What the hell happened?" Hammond shouted as Ferreti handed the Tok'ra scientist over to Doctor Fraiser and the medical team.

"She arrived at PC-690 just as we were about to dial to our second destination sir, before she collapsed from apparent exhaustion she mentioned something about Maktenos having successfully seized the Tok'ra base, intact. She stated that most of the Tok'ra were caught of guard and captured Sir"

Hammond froze, the blood draining from his face as Ferreti spoke, the words drilling icy veins through his body as he contemplated the disaster now unfolding. The Tok'ra had a GDO, they could dial in any time from off-base, maybe an escapee or one who was not on the Tok'ra world when it was captured. Not only that, but many of the Tok'ra knew the location of the Alpha site, many more knew of the SGC's current procedures, or other valuable information on the Tau'ri. Worse than that, they were Earth's biggest source for intelligence and information on Anubis and Maktenos's operations, with only the Jaffa resistance coming close to providing as much information. This was trouble.

"You have one hour, get yourself cleaned up and checked out by Medical, then report to the briefing room"

It was time to send the RSS a heads up.


	5. Debriefing

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

Chapter 5: Debriefing 

"He attacked by stealth, bringing cloaked ships into orbit ready. As soon as his Jaffa started pouring through the gate, the cloaked ships dropped their camouflage, and started dropping into the atmosphere. As soon as they landed, Jaffa in their thousands poured out of the ships, some moving to join the Jaffa holding the gate, most moving straight to the Tok'ra base, they knew exactly where it was" Anise said, her voice shaky.

"What ships were they using?" Hammond asked.

"I could only see troopships and cargo ships from my vantage point, but I had just left the sensor relay and there was no ship detected then, so they had to have come in cloaked"

"What about the relay satellite?" Hammond asked.

"Intact, as far as I know"

"Ferreti, have the tech sergeant dial up the Tok'ra world, and see if he can trigger the relay satellite to dump its database"

"Aye Sir"

"How did you escape then?" Hammond asked.

"Well, I was running through the forest…"

"Sir we have most of the data dump from the Satellite, the Goa'uld destroyed it before the dump could be completed" Ferreti strode back into the briefing room, his face a grim mask.

"How bad is it?"

"Maktenos appears to be prepping an ambush, as far as we can tell the Tok'ra base is intact, it hasn't been breeched, the Jaffa are just containing the Tok'ra within it. The satellite picked up a number of _Ha'taks, _at least one mothership, a squadron of _Al-kesh, _as well of several ships that appear to be off a new design dropping into the system, and then going 'silent'. It appears Maktenos is expecting us to send our fleet to save the Tok'ra and is planning on it"

Hammond winched, wishing not for the first time that he had retired _before _ Apothis paid his little visit that resulted in the reopening of the StarGate project.

"Ground assault also looks to be out of the question sir, those Gun towers would have been completed by now, and there is at least a full regiment of Jaffa on the planet, most likely two, we could never hold the gate long enough to get enough troops through to face that kind of opposition"

Hammond glanced up at that comment, the stirrings of an idea penetrating his mind, "Maybe, maybe not. It depends if SWD's equipment is as good as they claim"

Ferreti looked up, puzzled "SWD sir?"

"Classified Colonel" Hammond rose up from the chair, and swiftly fled to the confines of his office, and his phone.

Ferreti arrived back at the briefing room two hours later, one again summoned by Hammond. He paused slightly as he entered the room as he noted the sea of unfamiliar faces filling the seats, and standing around the table, their patches identifying them as part of StarGate team GC(P)1, GC(P)2 and GC(T)1. He frowned, he had certainly never heard of any team using designations even _remotely _like that.

"Now we are all here, I'll begin" Hammond said, his voice booming over the chatter that filled the room. The unknowns quietened, and turned to face the General, their expressions curious.

"General, you know as well as I do that our…" and older, grey haired man paused, glancing significantly at Ferreti and Anise "equipment isn't exactly combat ready. While we have all been with the project from the beginning so we know _exactly _ what the suits are capable off, the suits themselves are untried and barely tested"

"Well, they are about to get tried" Hammond replied.

"Sir, we are _not _ready"

Ferreti snorted, "the school of hard knock life hardly gives a damn if you are ready or not, mister?"

"General, Brigadier General Roboute Guilliman, US Marine Corp Special Warfare Division" he responded at Hammonds nod.

Winching, Ferreti snapped off a nod, "Sorry Sir"

"But you are right, what is so important that you are calling us in?" Guilliman turned to Hammond, moving in a slightly exaggerated fashion as he turned.

Ferreti looked puzzled, and then watched the other GC team members, each was moving in an exaggerated fashion, something he had only seen by deep-sea divers who had just reached the surface, or astronauts who had just completed a mission. They moved like they were in a space or diving suit.

"The Tok'ra base has been captured in a sneak attack, many of the Tok'ra are held within. We need to rescue them but unfortunately a space assault is out of the question, and a standard gate assault would be suicide. I'm afraid I have no choice but to call the GateCrashers into service, this is what your project was created and funded for"

Guilliman snapped off a salute, "Sir, we will need to start prepping the suits for combat operations"

"Dismissed" Hammond replied as the GC's poured out of the briefing room.


	6. GateCrashers Anonamous

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

Chapter 6: Gatecrashers Anonymous 

Nervously, the SG teams clustered around the edges of the ramp up to the gate, checking guns and equipment. In amongst the soldiers, an unusual number of heavy weapons teams clustered, going over their missile launchers, mortars and Gattling cannons, cursing the hot heavy Flak Jackets they had been ordered to wear, with their hefty metallic trauma plates.

They were expecting heavy resistance; they had to be ready for it. But they wouldn't be going first, an unknown team Hammond had scrounged up would be going first, and they didn't like that. They were the experienced Gate personal, shouldn't they go first? They after all, knew what they were doing.

A heavy clomping sound hit their ears, and they looked up startled as what to them was the sound of Jaffa approaching came down the corridor towards the gate. The blast-door rose, and an extraordinary sight was revealed to the StarGate teams as a massive armoured figure _ducked _his way through into the gateroom, taking a position at the front of the ramp.

It was huge, dwarfing the StarGate teams to his side, from the back, wisps of steam and exhaust rose from a series of small armoured vents, the entire operator, from head to toes was enclosed in five inch thick armour plating, painted a light blue. On top, resting on the bulky armour was a pair of modified rocket pods, lying just above the bear-like armoured headpiece, sweeping down to the shoulder pads, the right baring the symbol of the SGC, the left, the unit designation patch. In his right hand was held what appeared to be a target designator for the rockets, in his left, a bulky oversized gun, looking like two P-90's welded side by side and hooked up to just the one trigger.

Behind him, came four more of these behemoths. One was armed with a gattling cannon and a sword, the others each held twin P-90's in their armoured oversized hands, and a sword or axe. The StarGate teams vowed silently to stay behind these armoured battleships of the land; they didn't want to get trod on.

Behind these titans came another group, ten armoured figures in smaller versions of the Terminators armour, seven cradled P-90's in their hands, one a missile launcher, a batch of missiles attached to the steaming pipes of the power pack attached to the rear of his armour, another, obviously a loader cradled more missiles, a pistol in a holster his only weapon. The tenth and final team member cradled a flamethrower.

"Alright" the electronically amplified voice of General Guilliman blared from the Terminator at the front of the gate, "Here's the drill, GCT1, that is the Terminator suited Marines will enter the gate first, use our superior armour to draw fire and set up a firing line just in front of the DHD. Our priority will be dealing with the Gun Turrets. GCP1, that is Power Armoured Squad One will cover flank left, GCP2, Flank right. SG teams will follow behind use, use our heavy armour as cover and assist in seizing the foothold, understood?"

The SG teams nodded their understanding, as the gate rumbled, the chevrons slowly locking into place. Then, the Terminators strode forward, stepping unhesitatingly into the event horizon. The assault had begun.


	7. Into The Storm

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

thanks to all the reviewers, you know who you are!  
  
Chapter 7: Into the Storm 

Guilliman stepped swiftly away from the Gate, shrugging off the shocked desultory fire from the Jaffa defenders as another Terminator appeared on the status display of his Helmets HUD, having arrived through the gate behind him. He swivelled to one side as he came to a stop in front of the DHD, raising his right hand to point at a gun tower to his right.

A tone sounded in his ear, weapons lock. He squeezed his right hand softly and the gun tower vanished in a blazing ball of fire, scattering debris across the clearing.

The Jaffa woke up, volleys of staff weapon fire now cratering the Terminator armour. Guilliman grimaced as a shot hit his helmet, momentarily disrupting the helmet HUD and setting a ringing in his ears. Swearing softly, he shifted his aim to another Gun tower, and squeezed. Another one gone.

To his side, the other Terminators fired; the Gattling Cannon and the three twin P-90's cutting a deadly line amongst the Jaffa . Guilliman smiled as the Icons of the Power armoured marines started to appear on his HUD, then a harsh tone sounded and he cursed as the display shifted to the small radar unit nestled between the two rocket pods.

_Udajeets _. And not just one or two of them, but at least two squadrons. With a growl, Guilliman fired a rocket at the last gun tower, then moved, ducking behind Terminator Marine Rogal Dorn where his heavy armour would protect Guilliman's vulnerable rear. Calling Terminator Marine Sanguinius and his Gattling cannon to him, Guilliman prepared to deal death amongst the approaching fighters.

RSG-1 was the first StarGate team to arrive through the gate, arriving in a pelting rain of debris as an _Udajeet _was destroyed right above the gate. Ducking and cursing, the five members of the team dived to their assigned location, _behind _the gate, to defend against an attack from the rear.

Almost instantly, they came under heavy fire from a group of thirty Jaffa trying to sneak up the Tau'ri forces rear.

"Thirty hostiles attacking from the rear!" Major Tobias screamed into her radio as she raised her P-90, firing from her hip as she sheltered in the cover of the gate.

A gush of flame spat out from the other side of the gate, and she ducked back, looking across the event horizon to see the power armoured marine with the flamethrower walking swiftly towards the Jaffa, his weapon spitting fiery death.

Grinning, she dived forward, her P-90 clattering its song of death at the approaching Jaffa . She heard a soft pop and dived, lying flat on the ground with the rest of her time, their weapons firing constantly. Jaffa bodies swiftly flew threw the air as the mortar landed, perfectly aimed.

Tobias grined predatorily, the Jaffa were retreating. For the moment, the Gate was theirs.

Guilliman grunted satisfactorily as the diagnostics on his reloaded rockets all checked green. He was reloaded and ready for combat again, the slowest reloaded of all the Gatecrashers because of the special care his rockets needed.

At least none of the Goa'uld warships in orbit had figured anything odd was up, an orbital bombardment they could _not _survive. But the ships topside were running silent, no active sensors and no engines, just relying on passive sensors to tell them that ships had arrived. And passive sensors like the Goa'uld (rarely) used could not pick up ground activity, not that they felt any need too. After all, they had had 100 Jaffa guarding the Stargate, who could breach that many defences? Certainly not the Tau'ri, who didn't use armour or shields.

Guilliman smiled as a low purring sound reached his ears, the distinctive unwarlike sound of a Royal Army Scimitar Reconnaissance Tank as it passed through the event horizon of the StarGate. Well, the Tau'ri had armour, and they were willing to use it.

Despite Ferreti's commentary on the subject, "What?? You can fit _tanks _through the Gate? Where was that idea whenever I was screaming for backup?"

Guilliman found it hard to disagree with that thought. The Jaffa were certainly going to live in, as the Chinese would put it, _interesting times. _

****


	8. Charging Thunder

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

Chapter 8: Charging Thunder 

Ca'nac walked his swift circuit around the Tok'ra tunnel entrance, silently praising his God. He had done what no Goa'uld had managed before, he had captured the Tok'ra! Not just one or two Tok'ra, but almost every single agent in one sweep. Even better, he had arranged an unbeatable ambush for the Tau'ri, the Godslayers. They would not be able to breech the gate, so they would have to come with the fleet in order to rescue their allies and protect their own interests, and when they did they would find that Maktenos had placed 23 of his best warships in the system, _Ha'taks _and his great Gods new _He'tens. _ The Tau'ri would be destroyed and Maktenos would be able to ride that victory into his rightful place as supreme ruler of the Galaxy.

Even a covert assault by the Tau'ri would not work, Maktenos had just introduced new sensors that detected and tracked hyperdrives without emitting any sort of energy signal. The sensor was undetectable, and with the fleet running silent the Tau'ri would never know where the warships were until it was too late.

Ca'nac stiffened as the distant echoing of Tau'ri weapons and staffs reached his ears, then he laughed. They had tried a gate assault anyway! The fools, that foolish attempt would be rebuffed and they would soon realise they had no choice but to attempt a fleet action, and be smashed. Maktenos was a most wise and true god to have foreseen this!

A mighty crump reached Ca'nac's ears and he looked shocked towards the StarGate 5 miles away. His eyes disbelieving, he saw the mighty shape of a gun tower rise, shattered 30 feet into the air before dropping with a crash to the ground.

A mighty whirring hit his ears and he realized with sudden dread that his invincible God had not foreseen a successful gate assault. They had no way to contact the fleet and ask for reinforcements, and if the Tau'ri successfully seized the gate despite the forces arrayed against them then in all likelihood, he too would soon be dead and his God defeated. He wondered what that truly meant.

Ca'nac stiffened as a crashing sound in the undergrowth reached his ears, it had been an hour since the sounds of battle from the gate had seised, and he had too assume with the number of times the gate had activated since that the gate had fallen, and the Tau'ri were now amassing a force of sufficient size to retrieve their allies. But this was too soon and too loud, it was most likely a survivor come to report.

"Ca'nac! Ca'nac!" the brash arrogant Gay'ner rushed, his armour battered, his manner dishevelled into the clearing, "the gate, it has fallen! The Tau'ri used armoured warriors as their first wave, I have not seen or heard of their like before!"

"The Tau'ri do not use armoured warriors" Ca'nac replied sharply.

"Ca'nac, they do now" Gay'ner insisted.

A slight purring made Ca'nac look up in time to see an armoured tank swiftly tear into sight through the forest trail heading into the clearing. Ca'nac stiffened; them dove for the undergrowth as an echoing bang sounded through the forest. Arrogant Brash Gay'ner disappeared, the ground cratered where seconds before his body had stood.

The green mottled tank purred past, chased by a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth. Behind them tore convoy of open topped vehicles, great blue armoured figures within and Ca'nac realized with dread that they had no weapons left capable of piercing such thick armour, not on the planet anyway. Maktenos's own great plan had proven to be flawed, and the Tau'ri had capitalized with glee on the flaw, his God should have spotted it, were he truly a god.

_Were he truly a God? _Ca'nac marvelled at his own thoughts, such thoughts were the truest heresy imaginable and yet… and yet he realized he had buried or ignored such thoughts, such _evidence _ for decades.

Ca'nac stepped forward out of the undergrowth to the side of the road, he lowered his weapon to the ground and stood submissively, waiting to be found.

It didn't take long, two minutes behind the tanks and the transports came another group of vehicles, this time loaded with the familiar green-garbed figures of the Tau'ri Stargate teams.

Ca'nac found himself glad to be led away, disarmed, and he wondered why.


	9. Thundering Charges

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

Chapter 9: Thundering Charges 

Without warning, without defiance sent, the Tau'ri mortars fired at the Jaffa positions, their rounds not explosive or deadly but gas. Bright red clouding gas, blocking the sight of the Jaffa as they moved, disorientated within the fog.

The Tau'ri tanks moved in first, their IR sights bringing the stumbling Jaffa into sight with stunning and deadly accuracy. The Scimitar's fired, volley after volley picking group after group of Jaffa and tossing them apart, scattering them like broken rag dolls in the wind. Behind them, came the mighty behemoths of the GateCrasher Terminator Squad, their modified P-90's spitting leaden death at any surviving Jaffa . The defenders fell one by one.

Within just ten minutes, it was over.

Terminator Fulgrim approached the tunnel entrance with caution, his senses honed through 15years of blackest operations screaming that there was a trap ahead. He moved slowly into the tunnel, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.

He never did, till the brilliant bolts of laser energy smashed the helmet of his terminator armour into so much worthless rubble, by which time it was too late. He never got a warning out.

Behind him the other Terminators paused nervously as Fulgrim's armoured suit fell with a crash, motionless to the ground. Somebody in there had the ability to take a terminator down in seconds. It was a worrying thought.

Roboute paused, then gestured, calling an experienced infiltrator forward.

The camouflaged marine nodded, and then dodged forward, angling a mirror around the corner. The mirror vanished, brilliant bolts of light tearing the marines hand off as black suited supersoldiers strode arrogantly out of the tunnels, their weapons spitting death in all directions.

"How in the name of _God _did Maktenos get his hands on supersoldiers?" Roboute cursed as he raised his targeter hand at the enhanced soldiers.

"I don't know" Dorn shouted, holstering his useless P-90, and slamming a power hook-up into his secondary weapon the sword, "and I will be very interested in finding out the hows and whys, sometime when I do not have 7 supersoldiers to deal with!"

Nodding, Roboute Guilliman gave up on the useless rockets and drew his sword, swiftly plugging the power hook-up into its grip.

Then he joined the other three surviving Terminators in their clanking charge, screaming defiance at the supersoldiers, his sword crackling with energy.

It was a deadly melee; the Supersoldiers _knew _ their bolts could kill the terminators, they _knew _where to fire them for best effect, but the powerswords of the terminators crackled with electric energy, the blades pure focused forcefields were able to cut through the armour of the supersoldiers with ease, and release their cackling electricity into the breech.

In a match of equals, skill is the determining factor. And supersoldiers have no skill only brute unrelenting force, but they _did _outnumber the terminators.

Guilliman fell, his helmet sparkling and crackling as electricity surged lose, short circuiting through his body, a bolt causing crippling damage. Screaming, he tore the helmet from his head, throwing it with all the force his motivator-enhanced armour could manage.

Grunting angrily, he rose to his feet, swinging his powersword through the neck of a supersoldier in front of him, the electric discharge cauterising the wounds as the decapitated body fell to the ground. Grunting, he glanced around to see Dorn fall to the ground, his gun-arm torn from his body. Growling, he charged, ducking under the supersoldiers bolts as he ran to avenge his comrade.

He swung, the supersoldier still hadn't learnt to duck, and another head fell to the ground. Groaning he looked up in time to see Carter / Selmac carefully poke his head around the cave entrance.

Roboute groaned, glanced around at the blood splattered clearing, the battered Terminators, the slowly returning tanks and flicked the back-up radio attched to his belt on,

"GCT1, requesting extraction and Medevac"

Their fight at least, was over.


	10. Medivacs And Discovery

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

Chapter 10: Medivacs and Discovery 

"Incoming Wormhole!" the duty tech sergeant shouted as a rumbling sound reached the anxious ears of the waiting officers, "Receiving GDO… its tagged, GCT1 with medivac tag"

"Open the iris" Hammond ordered as he reached over for the intercom, "Medical to the gateroom, incoming medivacs!"

"Incoming travellers…"

The control room staff all looked on, dark pained expressions on their faces as Dorn limped through the gate, a field bandage covering the stump of his arm, a marine medic dropping through the gate behind him carrying the detached portion. Behind him strode Corax, his armour pitted and battered but unbreeched. Corax pulled a makeshift trellis behind him on which lay the covered figure of another terminator. Hammond sighed, feeling his years as he saw that once again one of his people had not made it back alive. Next came Jaghatai Kahn, his armour twisted and jagged around a hole in the body of his armour, a bloodstained field dressing covering his stomache. Finally came Roboute Guilliman, blood pouring from his scalp, his armoured headpiece battered, melted and torn.

"We lost Fulgrim!" Roboute shouted at the gate control room, his voice muffled by the remains of his helmet, and echoing with pain.

Hammond nodded grimly in acknowledgement as medics poured into the room, leading the crippled team away to the infirmary. This was a problem, the Terminators suits cost in the region of 2½ million each and not only had the only team capable of operating them been practically wiped out, Fulgrim gone, Dorn would probably never be fit for combat operations again and both Guilliman and Kahn would be medically unfit for at least a month. Corax at least appeared to have got off lightly, but the suits would require millions of dollars worth of repairs.

For his sake, they had better have proved themselves before they got crippled, otherwise the terminator project was going to get killed by the politicians.

Hammond stopped, and quickly reviewed his thoughts. Christ, he needed a vacation at the very least; more worried about the armour or replacements then the people themselves? When had that started?

Hammond shook his head worried, forget vacation. If he was starting to forget about the people, it was time to retire.

Head deep within his own thoughts, Hammond slowly made the short walk to the infirmary.

An alarm sounded in the armoured helmet of Captain Sanguinius, and annoyed, he turned his power-armoured form to face the readouts on the MALP at his side. The radar readout displaced his annoyance and replaced it with a stream of curses in five separate languages, each one anatomically impossible.

Hurriedly, he reached down, opening a small panel on the left arm of his armour, just above the wrist, and twisted a small dial, dialling into the SG teams frequency.

"All hear this! All hear this! Multiple contacts breeching atmosphere and inbound on attack vectors! Retrieval teams, expedite, all other teams stand by to repel enemy forces"

Sanguinius cursed as he flicked the radio off, it was obvious they hadn't yet been discovered or their would be a _lot _ more craft inbound. It appeared they had either run into a scheduled checkup or someone had had an 'itch' and decided to check it out. Either way, it didn't really matter now. Their time on this world was over, they needed to clear dodge and _fast. _

__"Russ, dial out and keep the wormhole active, we don't need anyone dialling in"

"Yes Sir"

Nodding, Sanguinius strode around the gate clearing checking the meagre defences for one last time as the roar of approaching _Udajeets _ hit his ears.

"Weapons free everyone, make them count!"

With a roaring whoosh of energy, three Stingers reached up on fiery trails for the sky, blotting three _Udajeets _ from the sky. Shocked, the Jaffa were hesitant to react and another _Udajeet _was blown from the sky as a trail of bright tracer rounds reached up, shredding the glider.

The Jaffa were shook out of their stupor, and reacted, diving into the attack as the waiting Tau'ri vainly tried to lock on with their reloaded Stingers.

2 more _Udajeets _were blotted from the sky by Stingers before the Jaffa could open fire, and the last Jaffa attempted to brake off, trying to run, to bring reinforcements.

Recognising the danger, every weapon in the Tau'ri arsenal opened up, putting a murderous rain of fire in the _Udajeets _ path, P-90's, Gattling Cannons, the Scimitars 30mm cannon and 7.63mm machine gun. The _Udajeet _ lurched as it passed through the deadly rain, then dropped, shattering into broken fragments as it fell to the ground.

Nodding, Sanguinius triggered his radio again, "Okay, we've bought ourselves some time but Maktenos will come to investigate, lets expedite the retrieval people!"

****


	11. Hold The Line Rated R

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

WARNING: Violent Scenes ahead, rated R  
  
Chapter 11: Hold The Line! 

The attack came two hours later as the last of the Tok'ra reached the gate clearing. With a cheerful bleep that belied the urgency of its message the RADAR MALP warned of multiple contacts as _Udajeet _ after _Udajeet _ after _Udajeet _breeched the planets atmosphere, roaring down in streaks in brilliant flame through the outer boundaries of the atmosphere, their craft expanding under the heat as they dived.

Behind them, came a rain of fire. Brilliant bolts of energy flashing from orbiting warships, bring death and destruction to the Tok'ra base, the bolts carving the base like a chicken on a spit, cutting the demolitions teams like wheat before the harvester, the ground at the base first burning then melting, flashing into molten volcanic heat as twenty Goa'uld warships concentrated their fire on a small, kilometre square area.

Sanguinius grimaced, tears filling the corners of his eyes as he flicked the volume off on his radio, _the screams! _Sanguinius knew those screams, he had heard them once before when his brother and parents were trapped in their burning car, lord he had hoped never to hear those screams again, for there was no worse death in his mind then to burn to death. Those teams in the centre were the lucky ones; they at least would have been killed instantly, but the people on the periphery…

Sanguinius shuddered, and turned to the alternate frequency.

"Alright…" he croaked, the words not passing out of his throat, swallowing, he tried again, "Alright, we have people to escort to safety, so get ready people, because we have _Udajeets _inbound. And lets hope to hell that Maktenos wants this gate intact, and doesn't just try an orbital bombardment on us as well"

Nodding, the various teams, Gatecrashers, StarGate and Free Jaffa raised their weapons to the sky, their rage and horror turning to a collective burning anger, a collective cry for vengeance.

Sanguinius noticed, and was concerned. They needed the rage, it was their means of continuing in the now, but when the rage faded, all bar the most thick-skinned would have terrible nightmares. He would have to arrange for the quack to be replaced, someone better would certainly be needed.

The last Scimitar vanished through the gate with a purr, and the gate whooshed shut, leaving grim faced warriors and the last large group of Tok'ra, each Tok'ra raiding the large pile of captured Jaffa staffs, preparing to join the stand.

Sanguinius watched incredulous as Major Tobias, RSG-1 dived straight for the DHD, quickly dialling out.

"Major, what the hell do you think you're doing, you know the plane calls for us to wait 7 minutes to allow the SGC to get the damn tanks out of the way?"

"I'm not dialling to the SGC, the plan said to hold yes, but they never expected an orbital bombardment, if we hold, then we will come under warship fire and we will be dead!

We have to leave, Now!"

"Where are you dialling to?" Sanguinius asked, grimly.

"The Land of the Light, Stargate Medical maintains a off-world Rest and Recovery facility there"

"Perfect" Sanguinius shouted over the roar as ten hand held SAM rockets fired, pushing their deadly payloads into the sky.

Once again it began to rain, deadly bursts of energy blasting the ground beneath the soldiers feet as the _Udajeets _ made repeated passes over their position, shrapnel and debris dropping as _Udajeets _dropped from the sky, the rain of battle dropped down to christen them all as Tobias dived through the gate, her feet pumping as she raced to the hospital, screaming orders into the radio as she flew through the forest to the Tau'ri facility.

Behind her poured the Tok'ra, most willingly fleeing the battle, but some having to be forced through, their weapons prised from their hands as they tried to avenge their comrades the only way they could see how.

Soon, the pouring deluge slowed to a trickle and the Tau'ri started to pour through, their wounded dragged or carried by any means necessary.

On the world they had fled, the Tau'ri were pulling back, falling back to the gate, their weapons spitting leaden death at the sky's as they fought to keep themselves and their comrades alive.

With a gasp of relief, they dropped their aching arms as the _Udajeets _ turned as one and fled, then realisation occurred and deeply imbedded training kicked in. They ran, their feet pumping, dropping all their packs and equipment as they charged the gate, fear giving them wings.

Sanguinius performed two last acts before he dived through the gate; first he grabbed a pair of wounded and fallen soldiers, throwing them over his shoulders. Then he glanced up as he dived backwards through the gate, and saw death speeding straight for him.


	12. Counting The Cost

**_GateCrashers  
Part 8 Of The Thundersdawn Series  
By Chaoseternus _**

Chapter 12: Counting The Cost 

The gate spitted and crackling, the wormhole flickering as the furiously running warriors charged out of the gate into the lush forests of the land of the light. Behind them came Sanguinius, the gate flashing out with a bone-shaking screech as he dived through, throwing the wounded soldiers out in front of him. A sharp pain reached up into the depths of Sanguinius's mind as he attempted to stand back up and shocked he noticed that the armoured sole of his right boot was gone, the skin of his foot gone with it.

Cursing like the Fourth Generation Marine he was he sat back down on the ground. He was alive, that was what mattered, and his foot would heal but with a sinking heart he knew the cost of this operation had been high, and he knew many who would argue that the Tok'ra were not worth it.

And if the Tok'ra kept up with their fair-weather alliance after this, he may just end up being one of them.

Carter cursed as she typed the sequence into the dialling computer for the tenth time, the gate spinning and locking chevrons under her control.

"Chevron 5 is encoded…

Chevron 6 is encoded…

Chevron 7 will not encode. Not receiving a busy signal off the gate's subsystem either"

Carter sighed as she turned with weary eyes back towards General Hammond, "I'm sorry sir, there no-longer appears to be a gate at the address"

Grimly, Hammond nodded, tears glistening in his eyes.

"Sir…" a hesitant voice spoke up from beside Carter, as Carters young prodigy swept her leg in its cast to rest back on the chair Carter had just left, "if they knew they were in trouble, wouldn't they have tried to dial out to _another _ address, maybe one of our allies?"

Startled, Carter smiled approvingly at Hailey, "Its certainly possible, sir we should… _Incoming wormhole" _ Carter snapped out as an alert flashed on her display, emphasised by the rumbling of the StarGate itself.

"Receiving GDO, its RSG-1 sir"

"Open the iris, put the base on full alert" Hammond ordered.

Tobias stepped through the gate onto Earth with a happy, slightly hysterical laugh, "General Hammond, we need a bloody shit load of medical sent to the Land Of The Light , like yesterday"

_Major General Hammonds Office, 3 Days Later _

__Major Hammond grimaced, holding his aching head in his hands as he contemplated the report in front of him, and his future. Neither one was particularly bright. The Gatecrashers had lost 3 people in all, with the entire group injured too lesser or greater degrees.

SG-11 was gone, once again wiped out. That number would never be used again, and 17 more of his people had been lost. The Free Jaffa had lost 12 and they were angry, they saw no reason why they should have lost people for a group they saw as being no better than the Goa'uld they claimed to hate so much.

The Tok'ra had been devastated, 21 operatives had died and random testing had shown Zatarc's amongst the surviving members, a full sweep was being conducted, but Maktenos had totally compromised the Tok'ra, no question. Their days as spies were over.

That, despite their distrust of the Tok'ra, was still their biggest source of intelligence gone.

And it still left half his ground forces in the hospital, or on medical leave.

Hammond nodded to himself, his decision made. He would set everything up for his successor, then step down. He would have to make a call though, he knew who the best person for the job was, and he wanted to be sure he got it.


End file.
